(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic mail system, and more particularly to an electronic mail system adapted to operate in an interlinked relationship with a telephone system which has traditionally existed as an independent system separate from an electronic mail system.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Letters, telephones, and facsimile machines have been used as primary means for communicating and exchanging information between persons at distant locations. In recent years, however, with increasing processing capabilities and decreasing prices of computers, computer networking has been developing rapidly, and electronic mail, a kind of computer-based service, has been becoming widespread as a means of exchanging messages between computers. Electronic mail has also found widespread use in offices where groupware, a system designed for efficient communication within a group using computers, has not been introduced. Electronic mail has the advantage that messages can be sent, like letters, at any convenient time without the fear of interfering with the work of the recipient (which is often the case with a telephone call), and unlike letters, can be made instantly available to the recipient. As a result, electronic mail has come to be used even when transmitting the kind of information that traditionally would have been transmitted by letter or telephone.
Information transmitted by electronic mail is visually recognizable information, like a letter, and offers different benefits than when speaking directly or talking over the telephone. However, electronic mail can transmit only information represented by character codes entered from a keyboard, etc., and when it comes to instantaneity, the telephone, which allows direct interactive communication, has an advantage over electronic mail. For example, when there is a need to confirm that the intention of the sender is properly communicated to the receiver, electronic mail requires at least two communications, whereas in the case of a telephone call, the sender can get the reaction from the other party during the conversation.
Therefore, after sending a message by electronic mail, users often make a telephone call and talk about the material transmitted by electronic mail. It should, however, be recalled that one of the advantages of electronic mail is that the recipient can view the contents of electronic mail at his convenience; therefore, when the sender calls the recipient on the phone, it could happen that the recipient has not yet read the message, or even if he has already read the message, he may be working on a different task. In such cases, if the recipient has to answer the phone without knowing the contents of the electronic message, he is unable to respond easily. Furthermore, users who frequently use electronic mail are usually doing their work with their terminals always on. When such a user receives a telephone call about the contents of an electronic message, as described above, he is expected to operate his terminal to recall an electronic mail list and bring the electronic mail in question onto the terminal screen. While the recipient is going through this procedure, he has to keep the caller waiting. Hence, there arises the need to reduce such a waiting time as much as possible.
Conversely, there are cases in which the recipient of an electronic mail message telephones the originator about the contents of the message. In such cases also, the sender of the electronic message who received the call needs to operate his terminal to recall an electronic mail list and bring the electronic mail message in question onto the terminal screen; hence, the need to reduce the time required for such operation as much as possible. When calling the other party on the phone about the contents of an electronic message, whether the caller is the originator or the recipient of the electronic message, the caller is required to recall the electronic message in question for display. For such cases also, there is a need to reduce the time required for such operation as much as possible.